- The small Arab state will be the first Middle Eastern World Cup host. Qatar's slick bid appealed for Fifa to take "a bold gamble" and bring the World Cup to a region that is beginning to emerge as world player in global sport.

- Qatar has never qualified for a World Cup finals, has few stadiums and has little footballing glory to its name. Some wag edited the national side's Wikipedia page to say: "2006 Did Not Qualify; 2010 Did Not Qualify; 2014 Will Not Qualify; 2018 Will Not Qualify; 2022 Qualified." Needlessly to say this was quickly changed.

- Qatar's bid chief executive, Hassan al-Thawadi, says that "heat is not and will not be an issue" but many beg to differ. The Qataris say they have developed carbon cooling systems to keep down temperatures in stadiums but Fifa's technical report on the bid said that there was a "potential health risk" because of the heat, which reaches up to 47C during summer.

- Qatar's size is just 4416 square miles, about a fifth of the size of Tasmania, so traveling between games won't be a problem. The population is 1.7 million.

- Qatar's victory will be seen as a personal triumph for Mohammed Bin Hammam, Fifa executive member and president of the Asia Football Confederation. He is the favourite to succeed Fifa chief Sepp Blatter.

- The Qatar bid was also embroiled in allegations of collusion after reports that it had entered an illicit vote-swapping pact with the Spanish-Portuguese bid, which this morning was beaten by Russia for the right to host the 2018 World Cup.

- We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in Qatar because of the threat of terrorist attack against Western interests. Terrorists have demonstrated the intent and capability to conduct attacks throughout the Arabian Peninsula at places frequented by Westerners, such as commercial and public areas. Further attacks may be planned and could occur in Qatar.